Zero Footprint Week

November 23-29th is Zero Footprint Week, which is an initiative of the One at a Time Foundation. It is an educational week of awareness that is aimed at helping individuals reduce their carbon footprint.

Going Zero is a big ask, and hard to achieve, but by having a look at the simple things we can do as individuals and as a community, we can reduce our footprint.

The One at a time Foundations site states;

So in the spirit of the event, I will posting each day starting from tomorrow, with a post about each focus area.

I invite other bloggers to join in. The more the merrier I reckon!

Now, if you are thinking that “Hey, I never heard of this mob”, well I had a lengthy email conversation with Dan, who works for Edelman. Edelman is a communications agency, that does pro bono work for One at a Time Foundation

Here is my initial response to his email and his follow up. I believe that these people are passionate about making a difference, so therefore my involvement in the event.

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Hi Dan,

Looks like a good initiative. Can you tell me what sort of advertising campaign is going to be run for ZFW? What sort of media types do you intend to cover.

I am interested, but I am not sure if I will cover the event. You need to convince me Dan that this is not just a PR company with a flash website trying to make a buck for some anonymous client.

I want to see the passion. Want to know that your company Edelman have green policies like energy efficiency, a green car fleet, a green incentive program for your employees etc.

Don’t get me wrong, I love a green cause and ZFW sounds good, but without evidence, it could all be smoke and mirrors.

Regards,

Gavin

Hi Gavin,
Thanks for your email and sorry for my late reply, but handling my master-thesis, working for two green not-for-profits and also for Edelman is quite time consuming sometimes 🙂

Yes, ZFW is a great week, and this is not only my professional opinion but my very personal one. I’ve tried to support green initiatives for years now. In Germany (where I’m from) I worked for the renewable energy field to push the establishment of offshore wind energy structures in Germany, last year I went to the States and worked for the Green Ambassadors, a green initiative to make pupils and kids more aware of how to act more conscious with our earth and here in Australia I work also mostly in the environmental field.

I totally see your point, as the sender of the email is a PR agency. But please let me share with you, that Edelman does this work pro bono. That means, I don’t get paid for this work. And Edelman also doesn’t get paid for this work. Amanda Little, our Acting Managing Director, founded the environmental not-for-profit One at a Time Foundation, before she joined Edelman.

We try to raise attention for ZFW nation-wide. We want to encourage Australians to take simple steps to measure and reduce their impact on the environment, to make them aware that they also can save money, and to make Australian aware that they also help to halt climate change by reducing their ecological footprint. For this, we try not only to get the newspaper’s attention, but we decided to also inform environmental bloggers like you in hope that you spread the word as well.

Gavin, I hope you see that this is really passion-driven. And all the people that work for One at a Time are environmental conscious. Me for example, I don’t have a car, try to commute only with my bicycle, don’t buy to-go stuff, shop only locally, we grow our own food in the backyard, no plastic bags of course, try to use as less electricity as possible and so on.

if you have any further questions just write me an email.
Cheers,

Dan